Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd


So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.


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Pink Floyd is a highly acclaimed English band known worldwide for their "progressive and 
psychedelic" rock music. The song "Wish You Were Here", written for Pink Floyd's 1975 album "Wish You Were Here" is about Roger Waters' (one of the band's original members) uses imagery and allusion to convey his feelings of alienation from others. As expressed in the quote, "so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from a pain", Waters is questioning people to make them realize what their problems are and tries to stimulate them to have a good look on how they should lead their lives. In the next few lines, Waters alludes to the present war going on as he asks the question "And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?". This is significant because it refers to the "heroes" who are the soldiers who are traded into "ghosts" which means that they are being killed, but who is trading them? This question is targeted at authority or the present government since they have control over sending the soldiers into battle. The next questions in the song, "Hot ashes for trees?", "Hot air for a cool breeze?" and "Cold comfort for change?" express Waters' feelings through imagery about the industrial change in society and how the environment is being affected by human actions. This leads to the last major question of the song, "And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?". Waters not only voices the fact that people are now starting to be controlled by escalating capitalism and commercialism but foreshadows what is happening today regarding consumerism. To tie Waters' personal experience into the theme of the song, he makes reference to his relationship with his ex-wife by stating that "[they're] just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, running over the same old ground." This quote reflects on the fact that the couple were never meant for each other and that they continually faced the same problems. The connection with this line and the next is important because of the fact that "the same old fears" symbolize the fear that Waters had surrounding the idea that at any moment the relationship would collapse. The point Waters makes is that even in innocent relationships, people are manipulated to be people who they are not. Pink Floyd will live on through their use of poetic devices and sheer talent as international icons of music and rock that affected many just as the song "Wish You Were Here" reflects on the idea that people are alienated by others and people should find out who they are by staying true to their values.